Clan Struggles
Prologue Cloud paused his trek to admire the leaves above him: they looked like pear skins flapping feebly in the breeze. He mused at them for a few seconds, but turned stony-faced as he remembered why he had come here. His belly rumbled. There was an abundance of prey in these parts, but he couldn't hunt now. The rich, musky smell intruded his nostrils, tempting him with an ancient lust, but his mission was too important. He carried onwards, grimacing at the ocean of sea-green grass slick between his paws. Any moment now he would-- Mouse dung! The oily, stinky grass ensnared his thick pelt, tossing him about on an ocean of green. He felt the ground give way into a tangled could of green. Ugh! Cloud thrashed about in a desperate effort to free himself from the monster that held him in its jaws, but it only made him more trapped. With a final hopeless heave, he tumbled out of that nightmarish jungle, conveniently outside of the clearing: his destination. A faint rustle of leaves signaled the toms arrival, as he came in, he saw his three littermates in the moonlit clearing, as well as the curious eyes of all the other cats around him, hidden in the shadows. Four circles were drawn in ground. He dipped his head in greetings to the present three. "Greetings, my littler-mates, Snow, Moon, Orchid. Forgive me for being late to our call. What is the idea Orchid spoke about?" He raised his head in curiousity for a moment, before taking his place in front of the final circle. The one of his three sisters looked at him with playful, amber eyes. The other sighed, and flicked her grey dappled tail. "You weren't listening? It's about the group, there are to many mouths to feed. We are competing for leadership, we believe it's best the cats split into four groups, all of us as one leader. We will all go our separate ways, to a new territory." Orchid looked over to the she-cat that spoke, she looked worried, and sad. A longing look was in here eyes, as if...as if she didn't want ''to split up. The tom honestly couldn't blame his sister, he blinked i'm sympathy for her. Orchid had been the most kit-like of their group, Moon was the most serious, Snow had been more caring and gentle than anything. But him... He was the reason they competed for leadership, he had been saying that there couldn't be four leaders. Now, it had come down to this. He swallowed back grief of the thoughts of not seeing his littermates again, then finally spoke. "I....I understand, it's honestly for the best. You are right: there are to many mouths to feed in this territory. Splitting into smaller groups will keep us all fed and well." Moon let out a nod, and turned her icy blue gaze to the cats, their group-mates, their friends. "Now that the final leader has agreed these terms, we can now use the flowers to say who will go where." Slowly, cats started to come forward, each holding a flower in their jaws, one that caught his eye, Lightning, the she-cat was quick on her paws, though, she was stubborn. As she had to learn from the others, she would normally disobey, or sneak off on her own. Lightning put her flower in Moons circle, he didn't know why. Moon was strict, Lightning was reckless. Those two would surely clash, he shook the thought away, others started to put their flowers in the circles, he watched who put their flower in his circle. ''Fern, grass, Pine, Day, Morning, Night, Swift, Dusk, Mist, Lake, Puddle, Bee, and Scorch. ''He sighed in relief, at least the group would be large enough to defend themselves. Of course, Fern and Scorch also had kits, Lark, Birch, and Oak. But they couldn't hunt, or fight. He sighed, finally. The cats got done, and they began to say their goodbyes to one another, the tom ran over to Orchid, and nuzzled her. "I'll miss you, Orchid, i'll miss all of you." Orchid sighed, and looked at the tom. "And we'll miss you, Cloud." Chapter 1 Cloud sighed, the group sat around the limp form of Lake. The tom had died in his sleep, starvation and weakness. "Lake was a strong, and fast hunter he was a great second-in-command to our group. He always kept are hunters going strong. He would have made an excellent leader." Cloud looked up to the sky, and sighed. He jumped up onto the meeting stone. "It's time that the group leaves to a new home! There is no prey here and our cats are starving. So, we will set our at dawn tomorrow!" As he was about to leap down, another cats voice rang out from the crowd of cats. "Cloud! Morning just had her kits! Are you sure it's safe to travel at a time like this?!" ''Acorn. ''Acorn was a respectful cat. She always tried to find the safest ways out of things. But now... "Your heart is in the right place Acorn, but if we don't leave: Mornings kits ''will ''starve! Don't you remember what happened to Scorch kits?" Over at the other side of the crowd, Scorch let out a mew of grief. "Splash, Shade, and Lynx were so young..." Bee pressed up against his mate, nuzzling her. Cloud sighed, and looked back over his group. their ribs clung to their fur, they all looked tired, and grief shown in their eyes from the losses of Pine, Splash, shade, Lynx, and Lake... "It's settled, we're heading out tomorrow! That is my final choice!" Cloud leapt down from the rock, as he went to his den, he looked up at the moon high in the sky. ''Tomorrow will be a new day... Chapter 2 "Alright, is everyone ready?" Cloud looked over the crowd of cats, he then stayed silent for a few moments. Before flicking his tail for everyone to follow. They moved swiftly through through the undergrowth of the forest land around them. Cloud sighed, hopefully they wouldn't have to move camps again, this wasn't the first time they've had to travel because of some problem... Cloud sighed, and continued to press on: These cats trusted him, respected ''him. He needed to do everything in his power to find them the right home. He needed to do ''something ''to keep them alive and well. Maybe, maybe he could start with their group name. But what could he call it? Clouds group? Group Cloud? Clan Cloud? ''Cloudclan! ''Yes! Cloudclan was the perfect name for his group, it made sense and it was short! Cloud would announce the group name whenever they stopped to rest. For now, he wanted to get as far away from the territory where so many cats died as soon as possible. He went back into his thoughts, how was Cloudclan going to survive? Would his cats even stay? Do even still have ''respect ''to him!? ''They should, and they ''will! I ''led them all this way! ''They ''were the ones that chose to go with me! These cats chose to be loyal to me when they chose what group to go with! Therefor, they ''will ''be loyal to me! They brought themselves into this. So they'll just need to learn to tough it out! '' "Cloud?" Puddles gentle voice rang out beside him, Cloud turned to the small she-cat, he pushed the doubt of his cats loyalty in the back of his mind to listen to what Puddle had to say. "Will we ever find the right home? So many cats have died...Fog, Sky, Birch, Branch, Moon, Sun, Swift, Dusk..." Cloud felt frustration well up in his belly: These cats were starting to doubt ''his ''judgement?! ''Their ''the ones who decided to ''trust ''him with the leadership! He let a frustrated hiss to Puddle. "We ''will find a good home! Stop your whining and group back with the others! If you don't trust me you can just leave! Or, trust my judgement and tough it out!" Puddle whimpered, and scurried back into the crowd, he could feel her stare of disbelief and fear on him. Cloud knew if they wanted to live: He would need to make a loyal, strong....perfect ''group. ---- "Can we rest now? It's moon-rise, the surviving kits needs milk and ''we ''need to scout the area for prey." Cloud nearly jumped at the voice of Grass. He looked over at her, ready to snap at her to tough it out, but then he looked over tot he desperate eyes of his cats: their fur clung to their ribs, kits were mewing for milk. Nearly every single one of them looked like they would collapse at any moment. As much as Cloud wanted to tell them to keep going. He had to admit: he was awfully tired and hungry, just like the rest of them. Cloud hesitated, what if there was no prey here? They wouldn't get anything to eat! But... If they kept, cats might start to fall from exhaustion, possibly even get left behind. That would be risky for mothers and kits. Stopping for now would also give them a chance to scout out the territory for a few days, and see if it's suitable. Not just that, Cloud would be able to finally say what the group name will be. "Alright. Let's stop and rest everyone!" A groan of happiness seemed to come from the cats, almost instantly they were all no longer on their paws, he looked over each silhouette, only the tips of their fur could be seen in the moonlit clearing, but still: this was an oddly exposed place... Cloud pushed the thought away: his cats needed rest. It would be cruel to force them to keep going on at this time. He sighed, and lifted his head to speak. "Does anyone have enough energy left to hunt for the mothers and kits at least?" Only two cats came up, not just that. They weren't even fully grown! Still learning! Cloud was unsure about sending out two cats alone. But, Cloudclan needed to eat one way or another. "Alright you two, just hurry and only get enough for mothers and kits. We'll hunt more at dawn." The two simply nodded, and scurried off. Cloud now looked desperate, what if it was a trick?! What if they just needed and excuse to vanish and not come back!? Or what if a fox or badger, or even another ''rogue got them?! What he do then?! He sighed, and looked over to where the two had darted off. Please come back. Please come back with prey... ''Cloud looked around, these cats eyes..they were full of doubt! Frustration welled up in his belly again, these cats doubted him! ''They ''knew ''the struggles this would come with it! Now that it's actually happening their acting like helpless kits depending fully on a mother they'll never have! Well, if that's the case, then they can just fess up to doubting me and ''leave ''if they don't want ''my ''leadership, why did they choose it in the first place?! maybe they want to scurry off to one of my sisters! Maybe they think Moon, or silent little Snow, or even kit-like Orchid is better than me! ''He didn't even realize his fur was starting to bristle and rise, until Puddle came forward again. "Are...are you frustrated about something, Cloud?" Cloud stared at her in disbelief, they doubted him! But they acted ''nothing was wrong ''probably to just make him ''feel better! Cloud let out a furious hiss to Puddle. "Don't act like nothing is wrong! I know you all ''doubt my judgement! That my sisters are more mature than me!" Puddle stepped back in fear and shock at what Cloud had said to her, Grass quickly leapt forward in her place, going to ''reason ''with him? "Cloud, listen, your just hungry. No-one is doubting you, if we didn't want to come with you we wouldn't have chosen to be in your group and you know that." Cloud whipped around to face Grass, fur bristling, claws unsheathed, teeth bared. "Then ''why ''does everyone have doubt in their eyes?! Can none of you handle the struggles of a wild cats life?! Kitty-pets! Either you can tough it out and stay here, or leave now like the cowards you are!" No cat moved, their eyes were wide with fear and disbelief. Like they had ''no idea ''they could ''leave ''whenever they wanted! The undergrowth rustled, the cats jumped, then turned to face the moving bush, the two cats Cloud had sent to hunt came back with prey in their jaws, without even waiting for an order, they began to give the prey out to kits and mothers. Cloud sighed, and stood up. "I've decided we need a group name,and that name ''will ''be Cloudclan, weither you like it or not! We need a group name, so Cloudclan is that name." He then stalked off, farther away from his group to curl up and sleep. ''Tomorrow is a new day Chapter 3 Cloud was awoken to the dawn light seeping into his fur,